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Mine.
And that terrifies me.
But not enough to ever let her go.
"Boss?" Niko says to me as we watch my bride take pictures with her family. The photographer is an artsy thing, bohemian or whatever hipsters are called these days.
"Hmm?"
I can't take my eyes off of my wife. She glitters and shimmers every time she moves, the ring on her finger sparkles, catching my eye along with her smile. I'm not the only one watching her. Parker stands by, back stiff, but he looks crushed.
"You know how you had me dig into Sabrina's father?"
"Yeah?"
He clears his throat while he lowers his voice and faces me. "The Winters family is uh,lowin the brotherhood."
I deadpan away from Sabrina's glittering form to look at my consigliere, feeling my lip curl up in disgust. "What do you mean?"
"They have...royaltykind of levels. At the top," he makes a motion with his hand, "you got… the Prescott’s, the Monroes, the Andersons." He puts his other hand beneath the other. "Then you have the Mikaelsons, Moretti’s, Hamilton’s, Nguyens and Hoovers" he places his top hand beneath. "The Winters, Chens, Cleary's, Jacobsons and Rathborne's. Actually, scratch that. The Jacobson kid died three years ago. Car accident. And the only Rathborne left was the daughter, Paris. Died in the same car accident.”
He stays quiet for another second and then, “Boss?”
“Yeah?”
“That’s only the Northeast American chapter.”
“You notice a lot of deaths in Massachusetts, lately?” I ask him.
He eyes me up and down then blinks. “I heard a rumor there was a killer at the RMU campus last year. Never caught. Because the MOs were inconsistent. But there hasn't been a death on that campus since the Riordan kid died in December. Suicide. But I looked at the autopsy report. Time of death doesn't correlate with the time his body dropped from the bell tower.”
I make eye contact with my bride over Niko's shoulder as she lifts a hand and summons me over, the ire rising. "I did this for fucking nothing, didn't I?" I growl.
"I wouldn't say 'nothing,' but you will have to push a little harder to be in those meetings and meet the ones you're trying to. Also, from what I'm hearing, the last Prescott alive, Jackson, Stephen Prescott’s brother, mostly just mooched off of Stephen. He has no idea how to run the company."
That had been a freak turn of events, Stephen Prescott was found dead in a hotel with drugs in his system. Turns out the old geezer like to party pretty fucking hard. Although every time I look at the little creepy creature my wife calls her 'best friend,' and her trio of misfit toys, I can't help but think there'sso much moreto the story, given Raven’s stepbrother went missing the same night her stepfather was found dead with multiple stab wounds to the face, neck, chest, and abdominal cavities in their home. No murder weapon. No surveillance. Just a body.
Huh.
I peer over at Raven, her men looming over her like a pack of rabid dogs, waiting to tear that dress off her. Sure, they look pleasant. All dressed up in rich garbs, speaking to everyone who stops to talk to them, but the girl?
She looks like a killer.
It's in the eyes.
There's a darkness in them that reminds me of Sabrina's.
Suddenly I'm met with profound curiosity if my wife knows any of what happened?
What secrets do you keep, mia Sposa?
I pat Niko on the shoulder with a grim 'thanks' and make my way to where my bride and my in-laws are waiting for me to take pictures together on the happiest day of our lives.
"At last...."
Sabrina puts her hand in mine, and the warmth of her skin seeps through the material of her glove, as I tug her to me to dance the first dance at our wedding as husband and wife.She seems to be in good spirits, calm, and not at all timid – like she’s been preparing herself for this day for years.
I can’t wait to fuck this up.